The Spanish National Dance Company (Ballet Nacional de Espana) perform Antonio Gades’ electrifying production of Fuenteovejuna at Sadler’s Wells. The Company returns following the successes of Gades’ “Blood Wedding” and “Carmen” both at Sadler’s Wells. 35 of Spain’s finest dancers and ten onstage musicians perform this epic story of tyranny, lust and revenge.

Fuenteovejuna is based on the classic seventeenth century play by Lope de Vega. In a struggle between an evil commander of the Catholic King and the local mayor, sparks fly over the commander’s lust for one of the village girls who is already betrothed. When the girl is ravished and her fiancé imprisoned, the tow sides are pitted against each other in a bloody fight for justice.

Famed for its outstanding flamenco dancing The Spanish National Dance Company displays a rich variety of folkloric traditional dance including flamenco, jotas, seguiriyas, tangos and other regional dances which convey the high drama and passion of Fuenteovejuna.

The award-winning Spanish National Dance Company was formed in 1978 under the artistic direction of Antonio Gades. One of the greatest flamenco choreographers and dancers of the century. Born in 1936 he was discovered by Pilar Lopez when he was sixteen.

In March 2001 Elvira Andres became the Artistic Director of the Company.

Sadler's Wells is pleased to present the first audio described dance performance by Vocaleyes, on Saturday 21 June at 2.30pm, of Antonio Gades' electrifying Fuenteovejuna performed by the Spanish National Dance Company.

Two audio describers, Andrew Holland and Louise Fryer, simultaneously describe the performance, breaking the traditional method of audio description in theatre where each describer works on a different half of the show. Andrew says:

'This is a unique challenge for us as it's the first time we're describing pure dance. In theatre, the visually impaired patrons normally get quite a lot from the actors' dialogue and we fill in the gaps. For this description we will have to present more information and take on a much larger role. It's about approaching audio description in a completely new and creative way.'

The performance is proceeded by a flamenco workshop at 11am specifically for the visually impaired led by the famous flamenco teacher Noria Garcia and accompanied by live music. Working alongside students of Noria Garcia participants explore flamenco movement, music and rhythms using gestures, body, feet and hands. There is a chance to learn about the history of flamenco and discuss the narrative of Fuenteovejuna and different aspects of the production.

The workshop is followed by an on-stage touch tour from 1 - 2pm. Participants are encouraged to examine the set, props and costumes and explore the stage in order to gain a sense of the performance space.

To book places for the audio described performance, flamenco workshop and touch tour please call the Ticket Office on 020 7863 8000.

Vocaleyes is an arts charity providing audio description nationwide for people with a visual impairment. Vocaleyes was established in 1998 to meet the needs of theatre venues and producers. Thanks to extra funding from the Arts Council in 2002, Vocaleyes is now able to broaden its activites into other areas of the arts including dance and visual arts.

The audio described performance is part of Sadler's Wells ongoing commitment to make all performances and other activities accessible to all. Sadler's Wells pioneering development in audio description of dance follows previous successful collaborations with the RSC and their production of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe (2000/2001) and Vocaleyes with Opera North's Sweeney Todd (June 2001).

Fuenteovejuna, an epic story of tyranny, lust and revenge, is at Sadler's Wells from Monday 16 - Sunday 22 June. Famed for its outstanding flamenco dancing the 35 dancers of the Spanish National Dance Company display a rich variety of folkloric traditional dance including flamenco, jotas, seguiriyas, tangos and other regional dances. Fuenteovejuna is choreographed by Antonio Gades, one of the greatest flamenco dancers and choreographers of the last century

Gades' performance in the flamenco film "Carmen" would be excellent preparation for the performance. Lust and tyranny oozes from every frame. Absolutely sublime flamenco. I am looking forward to seeing the company - so much of the flamenco and Spanish national dance brought to the UK stage has been a far cry from the authenticity and power found in Spain. I have high hopes having followed his work otherwise.

Antonio Gades’ electrifying Spanish dance version of “Fuenteovejuna” comes to Sadler’s Wells in June 2003 performed by the Spanish National Dance Company (Ballet Nacional de España) under the artistic direction of Elvira Andrés.

”Fuenteovejuna” is described as “a grand and sumptuous production with 35 dancers and ten on stage musicians.” Following the successes of Gades’ “Blood Wedding” and “Carmen” last seen at Sadler’s Wells in 1996, “Fuentovejuna” is based on the classic Spanish 17th century play by Lope de Vega.

Just before the visit, Stuart Sweeney interviewed Elvira Andrés about the Company, her work with Gades and “Fuentovejuna”.

Q. Tell me about the different styles of dance we will see when your Company visits Sadler’s Wells.

A. The Company represents all the original dance forms on the Spanish Peninsula. They are based on folk and popular dances and also classical Spanish dance. That’s not ballet, by the way. Spanish dance is very rich and, although Flamenco is the most well known, we have other forms of dance and “Fuenteovejuna” is a piece that shows this richness. Q. What training do your dancers have?

A. Our dancers have a very complete training within all the different forms of Spanish dance, so that they can cope with the work of the Company. Many, many people apply for our annual auditions, around 350 for only 6 places. Q. Sometimes when we see dance from around the world which uses folk themes, the performances can lose the vitality of the original. Is that something you need to watch carefully?

A. In this case what we have is a choreographer, Gades, who is a genius. “Fuenteovejuna” is not a demonstration of the regional or folk dances of Spain. The dances are used for telling a story and Gades employs a different style according to the particular moments of the play, so that they show the different state of feelings. The dance is the servant of the story. For example Flamenco is used in those moments that have to be more dramatic. Q. One of the pieces that you performed on the recent American tour was “Concierto de Aranjuez”, created in 1952 by Pilar Lopez. Is the preservation of the classics of Spanish dance an important part of the Company's role?

A. One of my most important tasks and a great interest of mine is to take care of our dance history through the maintenance of these pieces, as well as showing the new works choreographed today. This is a way of showing the complexity that Spanish dance has always had and still has nowadays. I am very happy that we have in our repertoire this work by the great Pilar Lopez, who was the teacher of Gades. This is of great value to the Company. Q. Tell me about your first contact with Gades and the influence he has had on your career.

A. I first saw Gades dance on stage in 1975, when I was 15 years old. This was in “Blood Wedding”, from the play by Lorca, and I knew from that moment that this was the artistic style that I wanted for my career. Gades has not only been a great dancer, but also a great choreographer and someone who has made a very important contribution to the development of Spanish dance. Q. “Blood Wedding” is one of the best dance films I have ever seen. I believe you were involved in the making of the film?

A. I was very young, but I was in the film and was there to see everything that was happening. The wonderful thing about the film is that it is completely authentic, just as would happen in a theatre. Carlos Saura, the Director, had fallen in love with the stage production, as everyone did, and he just let Gades do what he wanted. Saura wanted to see what happened when the dancers arrived and their preparations for the day and he made wonderful photography from it. The images are memorable because they are authentic. Q. Moving on to the film “Carmen”, the stage and film versions are very different. What was the process of development?

A. The dance version of “Blood Wedding” had been on stage for some time before the film was made, whereas “Carmen” was choreographed for the film and then adapted for the stage. So when they were making “Carmen” Saura and Gades were working together as it had to have the vision of a film. But when Gades took “Carmen” to the stage, he felt entirely free from the film and Gades is at heart a theatre man. Q. How does “Fuenteovejuna” compare with other works by Gades, such as “Carmen”?

A. We could think of points that are common to all these pieces by Gades. The story is told in a clean and simple way and the way it moves from one scene to another takes the audience along with it. However, in “Fuenteovejuna” he wanted to make his most choral production. In the other works the main roles are very clear, but here the main protagonists are the village people, so ensemble work is more prominent. Q. Do people react differently to your performances in different countries?

A. The way that the audience interprets “Fuenteovejuna” is a little different from one country to another. But the central message of this work, solidarity, is received in the same way in our experience. However reactions can vary. There is a scene in “Carmen” where she throws away her wedding ring, in London the audience laughed, whereas in Spain the same gesture is very tragic. We were all very surprised at this reaction. Q. On this visit we will not be seeing any of your choreography, but I’m interested in the similarities and differences between your work and that of Gades.

A. All my life I have tried to learn as much as I can from Gades. Unfortunately I am not him! One of the big things I have learnt from him is that creation has to come from deep within you. So my life, my experiences, how I confront dance every day of my life are different to his experiences and my work reflects those differences. Q. Looking at the broad spectrum of Spanish dance now, how do you see the current state of development?

A. There are important dance makers today, but there is a danger that commercial pressures make the choreography very similar and uniform. What is in danger is the personality of the choreographers and the interpretors. In taking our roots and developing them, there can be a confusion between something being modern and uniform. Q. In the 1980’s and 90’s there was a high level of financial support for the Spanish dance companies, which enabled them to make long overseas tours. Is there still the same degree of assistance?

A. Not at all! There was much more money then, not only from the Government, but also from the companies that contract the dance groups. Production costs have gone up and there is not enough money now to cover these costs. Fifteen years ago the tours would have been four months and now the longest tour we can make is six weeks. We still have the opportunity to make two or three new productions per year, but the big problem is the touring when we must take 65 or 70 people. We are extremely lucky that we can still tour within Spain as well as outside. For the private companies it is really difficult right now, as I know because I used to have my own Company before I was appointed here. Q. Are you looking forward to the visit to London?

A. It is so important for us to be able to come close to other people, in this case English audiences and we come in the humility of our own identity.

By Telephone Call the Ticket Office on 020 7863 8000; Monday to Saturday, 10am - 6.30pm. There is a minicom for hearing impairments 020 7863 8015. Payment can be made by Visa, Mastercard, Amex and Switch.

Audio-described performance Sat 21 June at 2.30pm. Presented by Vocaleyes for visually impaired patrons and their companions. Preceded by a Spanish dance workshop from 11.00am - 1.00pm. There will also be a touch tour at 1.00pm. More information can be found in the Assisted Performances section.

It's a fine production with as great a variety of Spanish dances as you are likely to see and Antonio Gades' choreography swirls and crystallises into clusters and geometric patterns throughout the 90 minutes of the work.

The quality of the ensemble dancing is high with perfect synchronisation. From time to time there is some solo dancing, leaving us begging for more, but in this work Gades wanted to explore the extended use of movement choirs. Flamenco provides the springboard for the most dramatic scenes.

The plot is very "white hats, black hats", reminiscent of Russian films like "Alexander Nevsky". The simplicities of the politics - peasants good, nobles bad - are unsurprising given Gades' exile in Cuba during the Franco era. Nevertheless the baddie Commander, played by Francisco Velasco on the opening night, gets good steps and tunes and is a long way ahead of most Tybalts I have seen. The lovers, Tamara Lopez and Christian Lozano, dance with tenderness, passion and power.

Gades uses the different dance styles to enhance the telling of this story of love, lust and revenge. As always, Gades is an equal opps choreographer and the older dancers including the fat and the bald all get a chance to show that dance is for everyone.

"Fuenteovejuna" runs till Saturday, when there are both matinee and evening performances. Well worth a visit if you are intrigued by Spanish dance or story-telling through dance.

The opening paragraph says it all - Mr Crisp doesn't like the genre, so how could he like "Fuenteovejuna":

Fuenteovejuna By Clement Crisp for The Financial Times

Over the years Spanish choreographers have sought to produce dramatic works employing Spanish folk-dance. It is ironic that the only successful example was by a 24-year-old Russian: Leonide Massine. His Three Cornered Hat (1919) was an early masterpiece for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. But then, Diaghilev involved Picasso and de Falla as collaborators, and the narrative was direct, witty. Not, even so, all that different from Lope de Vega's tragic Fuenteovejuna, in which a regional governor exercisesdroit de seigneur on a newly wed village maiden: Massine had a doddery old Corregidor chance his decrepit arm with a Miller's wife, and he got ducked in a river for his pains.

BALLET Nacional de España’s classy production of Antonio Gades’s Fuenteovejuna may confound expectations. For starters the troupe, formed in 1978 and currently directed by Elvira de Andrés, doesn’t dance en pointe. To avoid confusion among English-speaking audiences about the word “ballet”, it travels abroad as the Spanish National Dance Company. And despite choreography and direction by Gades, the man responsible for thrilling, flamenco-based stage and film versions of Blood Wedding and Carmen, the 90-minute performance is kinetically grounded in a wide variety of vibrant folk dance styles.

I'm sure that Nadine Meisner is cursing the sub-editor, as Gades is not here with his company. He is the choreographer and Elvira Andres is the Artistic Director:

Antonio Gades: Ethical dance policy Antonio Gades, the Spanish flamenco master, is in London with his company. He tells Nadine Meisner in The IUndependent that he likes audiences to stay silent, as applause is cheap.

As he reached the end of a pre-recorded interview with Rudolf Nureyev for Spanish television, the journalist suddenly remembered a final question. Did Nureyev know that Antonio Gades had declared himself the greatest male dancer? What did he think of that? Nureyev's gaze slipped sideways, and there was a pause. He opened his mouth. "All I can say," he replied, "is, 'Welcome to the club.' "

A procession of pain, poignancy and passion Ismene Brown reviews Fuenteovejuna at Sadler's Wells in The Daily Telegraph

Flamenco, that most solitary of dance forms, and a story about a communal Spanish uprising do not look like a marriage made in heaven. But, whenever an Antonio Gades production comes along, you should jump to see it. Because here is a man who passionately reconciles apparent incompatibilities into fine theatre.

Fuenteovejuna is, to be sure, a thunderingly good story for dance: a legendary event of dreadful, simple thrill.

There is no doubting that Antonio Gades can choreograph a great story. His flamenco version of Carmen had Gypsy blood scalding its veins and its choreography articulated the struggle between fate and desire with visceral clarity. In his 1994 production, Fuenteovejuna, however, Gades seems to have lost his instinct for what drives a good piece of dance theatre. The story - presented by the Spanish National Dance Company and based on a grim piece of 15th-century Andalusian history - is a melodrama of lust and feudal politics. A despotic overlord tries to exercise his seigneurial rights over a local woman and vows revenge when she and her lover stand up to him. On the day of their betrothal he has the couple arrested and rapes her. The villagers break their centuries-old habit of acquiescence, storm their tormentor's castle and kill him.

Spanish National Dance Company, Sadler's Wells Theatre, London By Nadine Meisner for The Independent

Its title may be a bit of a mouthful for non-Spanish-speakers, but Lope de Vega's play Fuenteovejuna is terse and exhilarating, based on a real event that took place in 15th-century Cordoba. Translated into dance by Antonio Gades, first for his own company (which brought the production to Glasgow in 1997) and now for the Spanish National Dance Company, the drama loses none of its power. Rather, it acquires an extra dimension as a showcase for Spain's fabulously varied folk culture, the different regional dances symbolising human individuality.

If one is dedicated in one's opposition 'against' Spanish national dances, one will approach an evening such as "Funeteveojuna" in the wrong frame of mind. If one has no opinion in particular, one is bound to be 'bowled over' by such an evening. The fusion of well-selected, atmospheric music with passionate dance is all-consuming. I have spent a great deal of time in Spain studying dance and I pride myself on knowing about the stuff. This is extremely good stuff. Gades captures the heart of Spain, the dance, human nature... I truly think that if Gades can't move you, then you can't be moved. Maybe you only think you can.

The sight of slim, slight, male dancers in high-waisted trousers expressing themselves through intricate and rhythmic lower leg and foot movements, with torso straight, erect and proud; sweat flicking off oiled curly hair; hands taut and proud...how can you fail to be moved? Clement?

Aside from the dances themselves - Spain has many national dances and Gades is 'second to none' in his harnessing of the essentially informal dances of Spain for the stage - the story telling through dance is well worthy of Lope de Vega. When the young hero envelops himself and his betrothed in his cloak, we see, perhaps, his hiding himself and his young fiancee from the evil 'seigneur'. Or do we see their consummating their union before marriage?

The company of dancers moves as a slow, silent homogenous bunch of peasants as if in a silent film. Then you hear the heels go down and the group has bite, comes out of the screen and becomes three-dimensional and 'feisty.' The individuals emerge and, thankfully, the older, heavier (and probably most musical), members of the company, grab the attention more. It is always amazing that at an impromptu flamenco jamming session, the thin dramatic beauties enchant but the older, not-so-thin dramatic dancers literally bewitch. And Gades preserves that formula.

How to get away with murder Based on a true story, Fuenteovejuna is a lesson on how to commit the perfect crime. By Jann Parry in The Observer

There is life in old morality tales yet, provided producers know how to present them. Antonio Gades, famous for his flamenco-based versions of Blood Wedding and Carmen (on film as well as on stage), has transposed Lope de Vega's play about an Andalusian village, Fuenteovejuna, into a folk-dance-drama.

Created in 1994, it has been given its first London showing by the Spanish National Dance Company (last performance tonight).

A piece of the action Love and murder, nudity and loud music — it’s all there for the taking, says David Dougill for The Sunday Times.

Mention Antonio Gades, one of Spain’s most charismatic dancers of recent times and a distinguished choreographer, and two of his memorable productions, Blood Wedding and Carmen, will flash to mind. He was also the founding director, 25 years ago, of the Spanish National Dance Company (Ballet Nacional de España), which made a vibrant visit to Sadler’s Wells last week with a recent dance-drama by Gades, Fuenteovejuna.

Based on Lope de Vega’s play, this is a story of tyranny, lust, revenge, honour and a fight for freedom, set in the Cordoban village of the title.

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